Vail Resorts to add workforce housing in Silverthorne

Vail Resorts, Inc., announced Tuesday afternoon, through its subsidiary Colorado Mountain Express shuttle service, approval to convert a portion of a commercial space it already owns in Silverthorne to workforce housing.

The 5,900-square-foot property, located north of Interstate 70 off Blue River Parkway about a mile from CME’s Summit County operations center, has been conditionally permitted to add two new four-bedroom units to accommodate up to an additional 10 employees. In recent years, the building was already being used to house up to eight CME employees.

“We’re pleased to have been able to work with the town of Silverthorne to create an innovative workforce-housing option for what’s otherwise been an underutilized space,” John Dawsey, CME’s vice president and general manager, said in a news release. “The transformation of the space makes sense for our operations in Summit County, for our employees and in relieving some of the pressure on the workforce housing elsewhere in the community.”

Vail is currently in the process of completing design plans on the rebuild to submit a building permit application to the town in September. A small commercial space will be maintained in the new first-floor configuration of the development that will cater to alternative transportation methods including bike parking and an employee shuttle to offer transit to CME’s nearby operations center.

The project is expected to cost about $440,000 as part of Vail’s November 2015 commitment to spend $30 million toward creating more workforce housing in the Colorado, California and Utah mountain communities where it holds resort properties.

Other developments already moving forward through that pledge include the Village at Wintergreen complex in Keystone and, pending approval, the rezoning of a parcel of land in East Vail for housing and open space.